Friday, October 31, 2008
Happy Halloween!
I love Halloween.
In honor of Halloween (I think), I had a very flying machine-themed dream last night. I was introduced to a new flying machine, which means that I now have two new flying machines to draw (one from last night, and one from a while back). I also learned the total number of flying machines that exist: 15. As of today, I have drawn seven and know of nine. I know names for four. Usually I make up the names myself; only the Star was given to me in a dream.
Also in last night's dream, I got to see some very exciting flying machine knitwear. That's right; my love of knitting has finally breached the dream barrier, and the people who live and work in my flying machines have special flying machine hats. They're simple ribbed hats with a turned up brim, but what makes them special is that they are color-coordinated for the specific flying machine (the colors for the flying machine I dreamt about last night were tan and dark brown) and each person's hat is embroidered crudely on the brim with their surname. I'll have to sketch a picture of the hats; eventually I'll make them.
The idea that each flying machine has its own colors is very exciting to me. I don't expect that I'll dream about the exact same thing again (it rarely happens) so it's up to me to come up with the colors for the flying machines that weren't specified in last night's dream. I'm thinking that the Star's colors are white and very dark blue. The Light seems like it would have emerald green and white as its colors.
Anyway, it's exciting. More posts to come when I figure all this stuff out.
Edited to add: I just realized how odd I sound saying that I'll come up with the colors that weren't specified in my dream. Technically, I've come up with all this shit - I mean, it doesn't feel like it sometimes, because I dreamt it, but there's no other possibility. Certainly no one else is coming up with this stuff. But there is a difference between thinking about something and coming up with it consciously and dreaming it, so I wanted to get that across.
In honor of Halloween (I think), I had a very flying machine-themed dream last night. I was introduced to a new flying machine, which means that I now have two new flying machines to draw (one from last night, and one from a while back). I also learned the total number of flying machines that exist: 15. As of today, I have drawn seven and know of nine. I know names for four. Usually I make up the names myself; only the Star was given to me in a dream.
Also in last night's dream, I got to see some very exciting flying machine knitwear. That's right; my love of knitting has finally breached the dream barrier, and the people who live and work in my flying machines have special flying machine hats. They're simple ribbed hats with a turned up brim, but what makes them special is that they are color-coordinated for the specific flying machine (the colors for the flying machine I dreamt about last night were tan and dark brown) and each person's hat is embroidered crudely on the brim with their surname. I'll have to sketch a picture of the hats; eventually I'll make them.
The idea that each flying machine has its own colors is very exciting to me. I don't expect that I'll dream about the exact same thing again (it rarely happens) so it's up to me to come up with the colors for the flying machines that weren't specified in last night's dream. I'm thinking that the Star's colors are white and very dark blue. The Light seems like it would have emerald green and white as its colors.
Anyway, it's exciting. More posts to come when I figure all this stuff out.
Edited to add: I just realized how odd I sound saying that I'll come up with the colors that weren't specified in my dream. Technically, I've come up with all this shit - I mean, it doesn't feel like it sometimes, because I dreamt it, but there's no other possibility. Certainly no one else is coming up with this stuff. But there is a difference between thinking about something and coming up with it consciously and dreaming it, so I wanted to get that across.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Printmaking.
Now here's the mega-post you've all been waiting for: the mega-printmaking post, that is. I finally remembered to bring my camera to printmaking and took pictures of the prints that I didn't fuck up completely. You know, printmaking is hard. I may have mentioned that before, but just to underscore the hardness of it, I'll say again for the record that it is hard. And not in the good, Washington Monument way.
Anyway, here's the first non-experimental print I did. I was trying to copy elements from Odilon Redon's "Eye Balloon" from memory, but ended up reversing the balloon and eye parts. That is, in the original "Eye Balloon" the balloon is the eye; in mine, the eye is held up by a balloon. Looky:
I call it "Eye Balloon" because I am a creative person.
Secondly, here's the beginning of a print that I didn't keep in the acid long enough and ultimately got wrecked, but is kind of interesting anyway:
Now here's a silkscreen print (the first two are intaglio) that I made. It features my great-great grandfather, Myron Hamblin, and the Bauhaus logo.
I call it "Red Myron." Can you guess what this one is called?
That's right - "Green Myron."
Here's Red Myron combined with another print:
Lastly, here are some prints from the early experimental stage of our printmaking class, when we were told just to do anything with our intaglio plate and see how it worked. This is how my prints turned out throughout several stages of adjustments to the plate.
Whew! That's it for now. There are others, but they suck. I'll post again when I produce something else non-sucky.
Anyway, here's the first non-experimental print I did. I was trying to copy elements from Odilon Redon's "Eye Balloon" from memory, but ended up reversing the balloon and eye parts. That is, in the original "Eye Balloon" the balloon is the eye; in mine, the eye is held up by a balloon. Looky:
I call it "Eye Balloon" because I am a creative person.
Secondly, here's the beginning of a print that I didn't keep in the acid long enough and ultimately got wrecked, but is kind of interesting anyway:
Now here's a silkscreen print (the first two are intaglio) that I made. It features my great-great grandfather, Myron Hamblin, and the Bauhaus logo.
I call it "Red Myron." Can you guess what this one is called?
That's right - "Green Myron."
Here's Red Myron combined with another print:
Lastly, here are some prints from the early experimental stage of our printmaking class, when we were told just to do anything with our intaglio plate and see how it worked. This is how my prints turned out throughout several stages of adjustments to the plate.
Whew! That's it for now. There are others, but they suck. I'll post again when I produce something else non-sucky.
Teto-Sweet.
I forgot all about the photo shoot I had with Miss Tetocat over the weekend. I asked her if she would help me model my second pair of Evangelines, and she was very happy to oblige. Then she attacked one of the mittens and attempted to kill it. I love her.
Evangeline!
Behold, my third pair of Evangeline mitts. Frankly, I just don't have enough same-colored yarn to do anything else, and I'm trying to use up what I've got in preparation for the YARN DELIVERY OF THE CENTURY (which happened yesterday, apparently, while I was not at home). Anyway, behold:
As you can see, my thumbs aren't perfect, although they have improved. Also, I don't know how to eliminate the stretchy-out place in the middle of the palm where the yarn is pulled between two double pointed needles. Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with the way they came out.
As you can see, my thumbs aren't perfect, although they have improved. Also, I don't know how to eliminate the stretchy-out place in the middle of the palm where the yarn is pulled between two double pointed needles. Overall, though, I'm pretty happy with the way they came out.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Rainy.
It's kind of a ridiculous, wet, gray sort of day. I'm wearing my L.L. Bean moose boots for the occasion. There are other things to report, like the fact that my plants seem to be thriving despite being, well, my plants, and my Wall O' Flying Machines is now expanding to be more like a Wall O' Lots of Random Shit. Here are pictures:
Monday, October 27, 2008
Silly.
While I was waiting for my plates to get all acid-ized, I took out my computer and took some quick PhotoBooth pictures of me in the studio. They had to be quick because someone could have walked in at any moment and caught me making wonky faces in front of the intaglio press. Next time I go to the studio I'm going to have to remember to bring my camera and take some proper pictures of the whole process and the shit I've made, but this is what you get for now.
In case you were wondering, that sign on the press says: WARNING: NOT TO BE USED IN SPONTANEOUS PHOTOBOOTH PHOTO-OPS. Oops.
In case you were wondering, that sign on the press says: WARNING: NOT TO BE USED IN SPONTANEOUS PHOTOBOOTH PHOTO-OPS. Oops.
Creative inspiration.
Ashley G. of Kitty Genius has been blowing me away with her latest creations. I've always been fond of her work, but the new mosaic-type colorful pattern thingy (all professional artistic jargon, I assure you) she's been using lately is astounding and gorgeous. I ordered one of her prints last week, although not one of the new ones; I've had my eye on a knitting-themed print of hers for a while now, and that's what I bought. I'll show it to you when I get it. For now, here is some of Ashley's new stuff:
If you like these, you should definitely head over to Ashley's Etsy shop and check out all of the things she has for sale. There's a ton of them and they're all amazing.
If you like these, you should definitely head over to Ashley's Etsy shop and check out all of the things she has for sale. There's a ton of them and they're all amazing.
Can I have this house?
Please? I fell in love with this pink house in France from The Cherry Blossom Girl blog. I want it. I want it like I want to be a French girl like Alix who has picturesque adventures every day in Paris and designs her own fashion line.
Maybe someone will give it to me for Christmas?
Maybe someone will give it to me for Christmas?
Felicity Hat.
Everyone in the online knitting world practically wet themselves over this hat Keri Russell was spotted wearing at the Sundance Festival a little while ago. I just discovered it a few days ago, and liked it because it was a nice looking hat and it was named Felicity, which was my favorite show until it started to annoy me (mostly because of Ben a.k.a. Scott Speedman, not Felicity/Keri Russell). I found out that the hat was based on Keri Russell's hat after I made it. That made me gleeful because I've always had a total girl crush on Keri, Felicity, and the sweaters she wore on the show. If only someone would come up for a pattern for a Felicity sweater, I would be very happy.
In other news, I am almost out of yarn. Yikes. To combat the yarn shortage, I went over to Knit Picks the other day and ordered enough yarn to qualify for free shipping. That's a lot of yarn. It's worth it, though, because I'm going to make good use of it and it's a really great price - only about $1-$5 a skein as opposed to $7-$25 a skein that you get at my local knitting store. Yeah, it's crazy. I'm planning on knitting a sweater as soon as the yarn comes, and ended up paying about $30 for the yarn for it - which means I'm paying less than I would if I actually wanted to buy an already-made sweater. Hooray, my plans for coping with the recession are actually working out! Now my mom can't bother me for sitting on my bed all day with the cat, knitting. I'm helping the economy. Sort of. Actually, I think it helps the economy more if I buy stuff. Right? I got an A+ in Economics, as you can tell. (The sad thing is that I actually did get an A+ in Economics.)
In other news, I am almost out of yarn. Yikes. To combat the yarn shortage, I went over to Knit Picks the other day and ordered enough yarn to qualify for free shipping. That's a lot of yarn. It's worth it, though, because I'm going to make good use of it and it's a really great price - only about $1-$5 a skein as opposed to $7-$25 a skein that you get at my local knitting store. Yeah, it's crazy. I'm planning on knitting a sweater as soon as the yarn comes, and ended up paying about $30 for the yarn for it - which means I'm paying less than I would if I actually wanted to buy an already-made sweater. Hooray, my plans for coping with the recession are actually working out! Now my mom can't bother me for sitting on my bed all day with the cat, knitting. I'm helping the economy. Sort of. Actually, I think it helps the economy more if I buy stuff. Right? I got an A+ in Economics, as you can tell. (The sad thing is that I actually did get an A+ in Economics.)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Christmas Wish List.
I say if it's not too early for me to be knitting things for other people for Christmas, it's not too early for me to start making up a Christmas wish list of my own. My inspiration comes from Design Sponge, which features so many awesome things every day that I can't stop thinking about, well, prints, for example. Like the ones used in this gorgeous calendar:
2009 Letterpress Calendar, Ink and Wit, $40.
Yes, it's a $40 calendar, but that's not a lot considering it contains twelve unique pieces of art that you can frame and put up on your wall or give away to friends once each month is over. You should really go check out Ink and Wit if you like the calendar, because they have a whole lot of stuff that isn't calendars, too, and it's awesome, of course.
2009 Letterpress Calendar, Ink and Wit, $40.
Yes, it's a $40 calendar, but that's not a lot considering it contains twelve unique pieces of art that you can frame and put up on your wall or give away to friends once each month is over. You should really go check out Ink and Wit if you like the calendar, because they have a whole lot of stuff that isn't calendars, too, and it's awesome, of course.
Today and Yesterday.
Yesterday I finished my pretty, cabled Evangeline mitts. Today I am wearing them out for the first time. They are fab, if I may say so myself. They're wool but they're not itchy, and they fit perfectly.
Along with the Evangelines, I'm wearing other clothes today, the majority of which come from American Apparel, because they appreciate my need for jersey and unusually long shirts.
In other news, I am working on the Modern Art essay from hell. Why is it from hell? Well, partially because the essay question includes a quote that includes a word that does not exist. I know it doesn't exist because my dad said so, and also because I Googled it and looked it up in the dictionary and it was nowhere to be found.
Here's a pop quiz for you. Have you invented any words and used them in your writing lately? If you answered yes to this question, are you A) Shakespeare, B) James Joyce, or C) Some random art historian? If you answered either B or C, you should know that this type of behavior is entirely unacceptable.
Along with the Evangelines, I'm wearing other clothes today, the majority of which come from American Apparel, because they appreciate my need for jersey and unusually long shirts.
In other news, I am working on the Modern Art essay from hell. Why is it from hell? Well, partially because the essay question includes a quote that includes a word that does not exist. I know it doesn't exist because my dad said so, and also because I Googled it and looked it up in the dictionary and it was nowhere to be found.
Here's a pop quiz for you. Have you invented any words and used them in your writing lately? If you answered yes to this question, are you A) Shakespeare, B) James Joyce, or C) Some random art historian? If you answered either B or C, you should know that this type of behavior is entirely unacceptable.
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